Magen David Adom dedicated to Irv Berzon

In honor of a “conspicuous” Jewish pioneer

By Marina Berkovich

Born in New York City on August 6, 1923, Irving Berzon died in Naples on December 24, 2020.

After a lengthy career, Berzon retired to Marco Island, Florida in 1973. Soon thereafter, he was invited to consult for Collier County for a few months, an engagement that turned into nearly three decades of service before he retired again, this time as Chief Engineer of Collier County.

Berzon’s ingenuity went into the design of waterworks, roadways, irrigation, waste and landfill management, and practically all public resource and critical infrastructure planned to accommodate the county’s rapid growth and development.

An active member of the Jewish Federation of Collier County, now JFGN, Berzon served as editor of the Federation Star at one time. He was also involved with the Jewish Community Center of Collier County, now Temple Shalom, and was cofounder of The Holocaust Museum of Southwest Florida. You could say that he was involved, in some capacity, in most everything in those not-so-long-ago early days of Jewish life in Southwest Florida.

Paula and Herman Berzon with son, Abner

Serving in the U.S. Army for three years during WWII, Berzon and his fellow soldiers liberated Nazi slave labor camps in Ohrdruf and Niemberg while on a special mission searching for abandoned Nazi electronics.

“Irv loved Israel and visited at least 12 to 15 times,” said his brother, Herman Berzon, at the Magen David Adom dedication ceremony at Temple Judea in Fort Myers on March 31, 2021, “once as a volunteer in the IDF, once as a consultant on water systems as a professional engineer.”

Herman and his wife, Paula, donated a Magen David Adom ambulance to Israel in memory of their parents and in honor of Irving.

Cindy Cuttler, the American Friends of Magen David Adom Director of Strategic Philanthropy traveled specially from New York City for the dedication ceremony. She explained the lengthy and elaborate process of manufacturing, transporting and outfitting the ambulance. Manufactured entirely in the U.S., the ambulance will depart on a cargo ship from the Port of Miami to the Port of Haifa.

Rabbi Mark Sack explains ambulance features to children attending the dedication.

These first two steps take nearly a year from planning to dedication to arrival in Israel. There, the ambulance will be properly stocked with all the emergency lifesaving equipment and supplies the population may need for medical emergencies, from births to helping victims of terrorist acts.

Children and adults climbed inside the beautifully pristine ambulance to lend their blessings and good energy to it before it departs on its fascinating journey of medical service. I thought of my own nephew, an IDF medic in Israel, who volunteers with ambulance service.

God’s work at connecting people and passages is sometimes evident in most unexpected places. Thus, Irving Berzon, a liberator, may be helping the greatgrandchildren of Holocaust survivors in Erez Israel, a place he helped transform into a flourishing garden.

Berzon’s extraordinary achievements have previously been recognized in Collier County and Southwest Florida multiple times. Most notably, the Board of Collier County Commissioners proclaimed July 7, 2015 as “Irving Berzon Day” because of his vision and accomplishments.

Irv Berzon

On February 6, 2020, The Jewish Historical Society of SWFL released the documentary film, “Irving Berzon, Engineering The Future,” which highlighted Berzon’s essential role in forging the Jewish Community in Collier County as one of Southwest Florida Jewish Pioneers.

Berzon’s liberator oral-visual interview is part of archives of The Holocaust Museum of Southwest Florida. And the Supreme Court of Florida certified Berzon as a county mediator in all judicial courts.

In his testimonial to Jewish Historical Society of Southwest Florida, Berzon said that he hated using the word “prominent,” instead preferring the word “conspicuous” for describing his own role.

At the dedication ceremony, Paula Berzon said, “Irv was blessed with high intelligence, a strong work ethic, integrity, excellent communication skills and an admirable set of values … all of which he utilized in achieving his many professional and personal accomplishments … His three extended families, friends and associates admired his qualities of generosity, kindness, humility and a great sense of humor. He was a very good listener, very loving, greatly loved and is very much missed.”

There was a peaceful blue sky over the outdoor Magen David Adom dedication, where the adults attentively listened to every word Rabbi Sack and the speakers delivered. The children laughed as they played around and inside the fascinating vehicle.

I think Irv would have said, “Make every moment of your life count.”